Sydney j



UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SYDNEY J. NEVVSHAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANCIST. SARGENT, OF SAME PLACE.

ART OF STAINING OR ENAMELING GLASS, .840.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,916, dated April25, 1882.

Application filed October 1, 1880. Renewed December 23, 1881. (Xspecimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SYDNEY J. NEWSHAM, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Artof Staining or Enameling Glass and Similar Material, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to the application of stains or enamels to thesurface of flat glass or other articles made of glass,chiua, porcelain,earthenware, 810., whether the parts to be stained have been previouslyetched or eaten away or not; and the object of my invention is to effectthe enameling or staining operation with or without previous etching, ina cheaper and more easy manner, and with a more perfeet result thanheretofore attained, as hereinafter fully set forth.

To carry out my invention,.the article to be stained or enameled is, bypreference, first etched in the usual mannerthat is, the desiredornament or design is first produced on its surface by the well-knownprocess of transferring or printing, or in any other of the usual modesof preparing the surface for etchingwhereby the parts desired to beetched and stained are left exposed, while the remainder is protected bya suitable protecting ink, varnish, or other material, alter whichprepara- 0 tion the etching is effected in.the usual manner by exposureto etching-acid or a mixture of such acids. The enamel or stain, whichis,

of course, composed of some vitrifiable color,

is also prepared in the usual manner, being 5 mixed or ground with waterinto the condition of a paint or thin paste, which can be applied with abrush. Heretofore, however, after the etching has been made, theprotective ink or other-substance has been im mediate] y removed fromthe ground, thus leaving the entire surface exposed, and the enamel orstain is then applied to the etched or sunken parts, all the featuresand intricacies thereof being carefully followed with the brush, so asto fill in the 5 same with the stain, and avoid overrunning the edges ofthe ground therewith as much as possible, after which the enamel orstain is fused and fixed by baking in a furnace in the well-knownmanner. It may be observed,

however, that the brushing in of the enamel or stain under the aboveconditions has to be conducted carefully, is laborious, requiresconsiderable time, and demands skilled hands. Even then it is not alwayspossible to confine the stain to the etched lines and avoid overrunninginto the ground, and of course when the article is submitted to the heatof the furnace, these overrnnnings will become fused and fixed,producing defects in the design; or, again, if any overplus of stainexists in the etched lines themselves, there is nothing to restrain thisoverplus when fused from overflowing the etched lines and producing theeffect of blurred and imperfect lines.

Now, according to my improvement, after 6 the etchinghas been effected Iallow the protective ink or etching-ground to remain undisturbed, andsimply remove the deposit of silica dissolved by the etching-acid bymeans of asoft brush wet with water, so as to thoroughly 7o clean outthe lines of the etching, yetleave the protective ground intact. I thenbrush the stain over the surface,so as to properly fill the lines orcavities of the etching. This may, of course, be done quite quicklyandcarelessly by a few bold strokes with a large brush,there being nonecessity to trace the intricacies of the design or to specially avoidoverrunningthe inky ground here and there with traces of the stain,andhence no skilled handsare required for this operation. After the enamelor stain is thus applied the article may now be placed in the furnace,the heatof which will, ofcourse, first evaporate the moisture of theenamel, and the volatile matter of the protecting-ink, thus finallydrying and hardening the ink around the etched and enameled lines. Hencewhen the enamel becomes fused it is confined sharply to the etched linesby the hardened ink surroundingit, which prevents the spread oroverflowing of the enamel beyond the etched lines of the design, so thatsharp, distinct, and perfect designs may be thus obtained. When thearticle is removed from the furnace its surface may be finallycleaned,so as to remove the dry 5 and calcined ink by brushing oi the same witha stiff brush, either dry or wet with water, thuscompletingtheprocess,anditmaybereadilyobserved that theink is much moreeasily removed at this stage than it would be directly after the 10cetching, as has been heretofore done, as it is then soft and requires tobe dissolved off with benzineor turpentine, which is, of course, moreexpensive and laborious, whereas by my system it is reduced to thecondition of a charred crust, which is readily brushed off, leaving thesurface clean and bright.

. In most cases, after the enamel is applied, as above described, butbefore the article is placed in the furnace, I prefer to cover the wholesurface on which the design is to appear with what may be called anabsorbent coating of some fire-proof absorbent substance or pignientsuchas the earth paints ground with water into a stiff paint. This coating Iapply with a brush, in as thick a coating as can be conveniently appliedwith a brush, over the inked ground,but'not over the enamel-lines of thedesign, so as to completely cover and protect the same. As soon as thiscoating becomes dried by the first heat of the furnace it acts as anabsorbentto absorb anyof the resinous or waxy matter of the ink that maybe liquefied by the heat, thereby preventing the running of the ink, andhence preserving the ground around the etched lines which contain theenamel, so as to effectually confine the enamel thereto and prevent anyoverflowing thereof onto the ground or over the etched lint s, thusenabling perfect work to be secured with more certainty in all cases. Byabsorbing the liquefiable matter of the inky ground this absorbentcoating hence also prevents the strong adhesion of the ink to thesurface of the glass or other material operated upon, and thus reducesthe whole ground to a brittle crust, which is easily brushed off with astifi brush after the baking operation, thus leaving the decoratedsurface of the article quite clean. When the ink used for theetching-ground is quite hard, or contains little liquefiable matter,having little tendency to run,the final absorbent coating may bedispensed with; butI generally find it best to employ this coating inall cases, as its application is very simple, its expense almostnothing, and where it may not lines of the design, and may then be fixedby fusing, thus producing the stained design without etching at muchless cost. For fine work, however, the previous etchingis alwayspreferable, but for cheap work it maybe thus dispensed with to greatadvantage.

What I claim is- 1. The improvement in the art of decorating glass orsimilar material with designs in stains or enamels, consisting incovering the ground with a protective ink or equivalent material,leaving the lines to be decorated exposed, filling in said exposed partswith the stain or enamel, and fusing the same with the protective groundsurrounding and confining the enamel, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The herein-described improvement in the art ofenamelingor stainingembossed or etched articlesviz., leaving the protective groundintactafter the embossing or etching, then applying the enamel or stain, andbaking or fusing the same, with the protective ground surrounding andconfining the enamel or stain-substantially as and for the purposeherein set forth.

3. In the art of enameling or staining glass or similar material, thestep of covering the protective ground with a coating of an absorbentfire-proof paint previous to the baking or fusing operation,substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

SYDNEY J. NEWSI-IAM.

WVitnesses:

EDWARD H. WALES, CHAS. M. HIGGINS.

